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Federal court says UMG can't stop the sale of promo CDs

12 June 2008 5:13 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 8 comments

Last year Universal Music Group (UMG) filed a lawsuit against Troy Augusto claiming he was violating copyright law by offering promotional CDs for sale. Now a federal district court has ruled that UMG's copyright wasn't violated by the sales.

At issue is the legal force of warnings on the CDs, which were sent (free of charge) to radio stations. UMG claimed that since they weren't actually sold the first sale doctrine, which allows you to do what you please with goods you've purchased, has no application. The court ruled that the CDs are given as gifts, which in turn means the first sale doctrine does apply and UMG has no say in whether they're sold later.

The court's decision may also be important in the case of Timothy Vernor. Vernor is suing AutoCAD developer Autodesk for repeatedly interfering with his right to sell legally purchased copies of their software through eBay. Autodesk's argument has been that the licensing agreement for AutoCAD makes resale a copyright violation.

This is simlar to UMG's claim that by simply adding wording to a CD they effectively negated the first sale right.

Permalink to this article | Topics: Lawsuits & Legislation MP3 & Digital Audio

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Discuss this article!
spiesfan (Member) 12 June 2008 10:07
ha ha [ + quote]
nobrainer (Inactive) 12 June 2008 11:39
*Originally posted by spiesfan:* ha ha exactly, lol. its a case of, "this is yours but you're not allowed to sell it", kinda rings of media licensing, the great system that is not anti-consumer in any way shape or form, Universal just think they can treat physical media the same, but what do you expect from any riaa/mpaa member! The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above! The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 June 2008 11:45
grkblood (Senior Member) 12 June 2008 11:58
meh... [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 12 June 2008 12:04
all of the not for sale/resale lables is a joke. [ + quote]
iluvendo (AfterDawn Addict) 12 June 2008 14:48
Troy Augusto +5 UMG -10 [ + quote]
DXR88 (Senior Member) 12 June 2008 16:18
Troy Augusto uses but its promotional,Giant Enemy UMG Takes massive damage. [ + quote]
o0cynix0o (Junior Member) 12 June 2008 21:17
*Quote:* UMG claimed that since they weren't actually sold the first sale doctrine, which allows you to do what you please with goods you've purchased, has no application. Universal needs to remember this when they want to sue some one. And what are they going to do to all the second hand stores that sell CD's and DVD's??? [ + quote]
susieqbbb (Inactive) 13 June 2008 1:17
I could understand this with Autodesk autocad due to fake serials and illegal serials to there autocad suite but if the person decides to sell the software at a garage sale or a goodwill or other thrift store. What the heck are they going to due thrift stores do not fall under this no resale bull [ + quote]